For 86 Years, Manchester Garden Club Has Beautified Manchester

Manchester Garden Club members pose at the Gateway Garden to Manchester.… (RICK HARTFORD|rhartford@courant.com )

May 01, 2013|By MICHAEL WALSH, Special to The Courant, The Hartford Courant

The Manchester Garden Club has seen a lot of change since its inception in 1926.

What has remained the same is its mission to beautify, educate and engage its community.

"A lot of us joined the club as a way to give back to the town," said Deborah Flower, president of the club. "Our objective here is to stimulate interest in horticulture."

The club, which has more than 80 members, currently tends to five of the town's gardens, something club members said others who see the gardens every day might not know.

"By planting the gardens in the town, we give back to the town and create a relationship," said Gerry Lupacchino, the club's civic improvement chairman. "It educates people about what we're putting in the gardens."

The arrival of May means that the club will again start to focus on its work, which includes tending to the Margaret Trotter Memorial Garden, the Vietnam Memorial Park Garden, the Dr. William E. Buckley Memorial Garden, the Manchester Gateway Public Garden and the Cheney Homestead Beautification Project.

Joan Kelsey, the club's historian, said that the organization has always encouraged public service and the display of all growing things.

Kelsey, who has the original handwritten records of the garden club's meetings from its first few years, said work was often done around town at hospitals and schools. After World War II, the garden club donated seeds to relief funds.

"Having read the history so much, indeed, it was a community effort," said Kelsey, who has been a member for 32 years.

Lupacchino said most garden clubs, including Manchester's, were started by men. But after the war they were taken over by women and remained that way for a long time. It's only in the last 10 years that the Manchester Garden Club has seen a rise in male members.

"Shortly before I joined, it was a little different in the club," Kelsey said. "Our numbers were down. We were at 55 members and now we're over 80. There were no men left in our group."

In many ways the last 10 to 15 years has been a sort of rebirth for the Manchester Garden Club. They're once again winning awards at state competitions and are attracting growing interest.

"What organization do you know of that can proudly say they've been incorporated for 86 years and going stronger than ever?" Kelsey said. "That's a testament to our members and our leadership."

Flower said that the current strength of the club is because of the variety of its members and their ability to work together.

"What we have in our club is a variety of interests," Flower said. "I love to grow things. I think plants are fun. People like Gerry are very interested in design. Other people are into flower arrangements."

Members range in age from their late 20's to 80's, Lupacchino said, and some like Kelsey have been members for three or four decades.

Kelsey, who has the honor of being an official lifetime member, still remembers the first meeting she attended more than 30 years ago.

"When I first joined I didn't know a soul," Kelsey said. "I sat down at this meeting, walked in my first time, and this lovely lady… she turned to me and smiled and I felt like I found a second home."

The garden club will hold its annual spring plant sale at 8:30 a.m. on May 18 at the Community Baptist Church parking lot, 585 East Center St.